Pick up to 4 vehicles to compare side-by-side. State lives in the URL — share the link and the comparison loads exactly as you left it. No JavaScript required.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | CNSA | Blue Origin | ISRO |
| Prime contractor | China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) | Blue Origin | ISRO |
| Status | In development | In development | In development |
| Customer | CNSA | NASA-CLPS | ISRO |
| Launch date | 2026-08 (NET) | 2026-07 (NET) | 2027–2028 (NET) |
| Landing date | — | — | — |
| Landing site | Shackleton crater illuminated rim, lunar south pole | Lunar south pole region | Near Mons Mouton, lunar south pole |
| Payload | 18 science payloads across orbiter, lander, rover, mini-hopper, and Queqiao-2 (2026-05-28) | 3,000 kg surface payload capacity (21,350 kg wet lander mass) (2026-05-28) | Up to 3 kg lunar sample return (2026-02-06) |
| Contract value | — | — | — |
| Outcome | China's first dedicated lunar south-pole prospecting mission. Mini-flying probe hops into permanently shadowed regions to sample for water-ice volatiles. Italian laser retroreflector aboard the lander. | First flight test of Blue Moon Mark 1. Carries NASA CLPS Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies + Laser Retroreflective Array. Targets 100 m landing precision. Lander completed full-scale thermal-vacuum testing at NASA Plum Brook (Armstrong Test Facility) May 2026. | India's first lunar sample-return mission. Five modules launched on two LVM3 vehicles; requires both Earth-orbit and lunar-orbit docking — first-time capabilities for ISRO. Architecture sanctioned by Government of India September 2024. |
Pure URL state — no JavaScript, no localStorage, no cookies. The comparison renders entirely on the server from the slugs in the query string. Bookmark or share the URL and the comparison reproduces exactly.
Underlying dataset: GET /api/moon/landers. Methodology: /moon/methodology.